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Monday, April 11, 2016

UK: " The virus of anti-Semitism has infected the British Muslim community"

Douglas Murray writes @ Gatestone Institute:

[...] Take for example the Guardian-published Corbyn activist, Owen Jones. Last week, ignoring his own history
of stirring up lies against the Jewish state, he responded to his
party's latest embarrassment by arguing that Labour's rules should be
changed so that "anyone found guilty of anti-Semitism -- or any other
form of racism -- is expelled from the party." [...]

For his second prevarication for dealing with Labour's anti-Semitism problem, Jones wrote that the party should:

"... set up two commissions: one on antisemitism, the
other on anti-Muslim prejudice, respectively headed by a leading Jewish
and a Muslim figure. Both forms of bigotry are on the rise in Britain,
and both exist within progressive circles and the Labour party. The
commissions could issue a series of recommendations, both for dealing
with it when it arises within Labour, and also in wider society."

As everyone involved in politics knows, there are two ways truly to
ignore a problem: the first is just to ignore it; the second is to "set
up a commission."

But there are several perhaps unwittingly interesting things about
this flaccid suggestion. The first is the reflexive and unthinking
demonstration among many these days that they cannot possibly deal with
anti-Semitism unless they also throw Muslims into the mix. To deal with
anti-Semitism on its own might throw up too many problems and raise too
many communal problems.

But let us say that two such commissions were set up. And let us
pretend for a moment that they were indeed headed by people who were not
merely "leading" but also honest figures.

The head of the commission to look into anti-Semitic prejudice, might
find a number of startling things. He or she might find, for instance,
that the dominant strand of anti-Semitism in British life in 2016 comes
not from Ms. Kirby's ilk, but from the British Muslim community. The
commission head would not have to go far to learn this. One only has to
pick up a copy of the British left's in-house magazine, The New Statesman,
and read an article from just three years ago by the British-born
Al-Jazeera broadcaster, Mehdi Hassan. In an unusually honest piece
entitled, "The sorry truth is that the virus of anti-Semitism has
infected the British Muslim community," the author explains that:

"Anti-Semitism isn't just tolerated in some sections of
the British Muslim community; it's routine and commonplace. Any Muslims
reading this article -- if they are honest with themselves -- will know
instantly what I am referring to. It's our dirty little secret."

So as Hassan has reminded us, the sorry truth is that if a commission
into anti-Semitism were set up, it would have to finger the majority of
British Muslims as at least a very large part of the problem.

Meanwhile, let us say that the second commission were set up -- the
one that gives cover to the anti-Semitism commission which is looking at
"anti-Muslim" feeling. This commission might come to an equally
problematic conclusion.

This commission might conclude, for instance,
that to the extent that any "anti-Muslim" feeling might be said to exist
in the UK, it comes from a number of factors quite separate from innate
and unalterable prejudice in the hearts of the British people. It might
come, for instance, from a dislike of suicide-bombings, assassinations,
beheadings and other varieties of terrorism carried out while
discussing the greatness of Allah.

Although most British people will
remain perfectly capable of understanding the difference between the
actions of the extremists and the behaviour of the vast majority of
British Muslims, they may be concerned about the amount of deflection
and denial that they see even from leaders of very mainstream Muslim
organizations. Indeed, is it not possible that anti-Muslim feeling, if
it exists, might not also be in part propelled by the discovery that
anti-Semitism and other forms of prejudice (against women and gay people
to name just two "minorities") are also "routine and commonplace" among
British Muslims?